Pancho Villa Handshake Statue.

Pancho Villa Handshake Statue

El Paso, Texas

A bronze statue on a cement pedestal depicts "The Friendly Meeting" between Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa and U.S. general John "Black Jack" Pershing. The handshake between the two took place on this spot on August 26, 1914. A plaque on the statue's base notes that "less than two years later" the two men were "sworn enemies" after Pancho and his men attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, on March 9, 1916. The battle left many more Mexicans dead than Americans.

The plaque credits the statue to "artist unknown," and in fact other, less refined versions of this statue stand in Mexico. It was probably originally crafted in one of the metal shops south of the border that now crank out rusty dinosaurs for the U.S. market.

Unlike the common USA caricature of Pancho wearing a sombrero and crossed bandoliers of bullets, this statue depicts him as a respectable uniformed soldier, indistinguishable from Pershing except for their different-style hats.

Also see: Trigger Finger of Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa Handshake Statue

Hotel Paso Del Norte

Address:: 10 Henry Trost Court, El Paso, TX
Directions:: Downtown, outside the entrance to the Hotel Paso Del Norte, on the southwest corner of S. El Paso St. and Henry Trost Court.

Nearby Offbeat Places

Pile o' Gators Statue (Plaza de los Lagartos), El Paso, TX - < 1 mi.

Boy and the Boot, El Paso, TX - < 1 mi.

Chamizal National Memorial: It Used To Be In Mexico, El Paso, TX - 2 mi.

In the region:

Propane Powered Rocket, Las Cruces, NM - 40 mi.

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